Lord Narsimhadev is the
half-man, half-lion incarnation of Sri Krishna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Lord Narsimhadev appeared in the
Satya-yauga, millions of years ago, to protect His devotee
Prahalad Maharaja from the atrocities of his demoniac father King
Hiranyakasyapu. Sri Krishna at different time appears as a 'yuga
avatar' or scheduled incarnation for the yuga (like Lord Ram was
in Treta yuga), a 'guna avatar' or a qualitative incarnation
(like Vyasadeva, who is a literary incarnation), a 'shaktivesha
avatar' or an empowered incarnation (like so many prominent
saints in Vedic times). Lord Narsimhadev is considered to be
'lila avatar', or a momentary form the Lord assumes to accomplish
His pastimes. This is not to imply that the form of Lord
Narsimhadev is transient. In fact Lord Narsimhadev is one of the
eternal forms of Sri Krishna in the spiritual world, with His own
spiritual planet. What is transient is the appearance of His form
in the material universe.

Hiranyakasyapu
was born of the great sage Kasyapa Muni and his wife Diti. Since
he was conceived at an inappropriate time, without the observance
of recommended procedures, he (and his younger brother
Hiranyaksh) were born with demoniac mentalities. From this we can
understand the importance of following prescribed Vedic
procedures, like the 'garbhadana samsakara' when bringing a
progeny to this world. Children conceived out of lust, apathy or
physical desires, reflect the consciousness of their parents at
the time of conception and find it very difficult to lead a
regulated, spiritual life. So, the two brothers, even though they
were born of such an exalted lineage, were very much infatuated
with the modes of material nature. The word Hiranyakasyapu means
'one who likes gold and soft beds'. Hiranyakasyapu spend his life
in the pursuit of material wealth, power and sense gratification.

When Hiranyaksh, the younger brother of Hiranyakasyapu was killed by
Sri Vishnu in His Varha incarnation, Hiranyakasyapu was furious
and vowed to avenge the death of his brother by killing Vishnu
Himself. He accused Vishnu of being partial to the demigods, and
send his followers to the different planetary systems, to spread
chaos and turmoil. These followers of Hiranyakasyapu tormented
the saintly people, stopped all kinds of yajnas or sacrifices and
spread irreligosity every where. The demigods, deprived of their
offerings from the yajnas became weak and ineffective. Meanwhile
Hiranyakasyapu went to Mount Mandara to perform severe
austerities in order to please Brahma, the creator of the
universe.

Taking
advantage of the absence of Hiranyakasyapu, Indra, the king of
the demigods attacked and drove away the demons. Indra also took
captive Queen Kayadhu, the chaste wife of Hiranyakasyapu, who was
at that time pregnant. Indra, apprehensive that any child of
Hiranyakasyapu could also be a future threat, wanted to kill the
child at the time of birth. He was however stopped by Narada
Muni, the transcendental sage of the demigods. Narada gave
shelter to Queen Kayadhu in his ashram and instructed her on the
glories of Sri Krishna. In the womb of Kayadhu, her son, who
would later become Prahalad, also heard and absorbed these
nectarean instructions. Kayadhu, fearful that Indra may still
return to kill her child on birth, requested Narada Muni to give
her the benediction that her child will not deliver till
Hiranyakasyapu returns. Prahalad thus stayed in the womb of his
mother for 100 years of the demigods (36,000 of our years),
spiritually associating with a pure devotee, Narada Muni, through
speech or 'vani', while his father performed intense austerities.

Over
this period, Hiranyakasyapu's body was eaten away be ants and
insects. His life air remained trapped in his skeleton by his
mystic powers. So intense was the effulgent heat emanating from
his head that all the three planetary systems were scorched and
the demigods became very fearful of their own existence and
entreated Brahma to intercede. After Lord Brahma had restored
Hiranyakasyapu's body, pleased by his austerities he granted him
the boon that he would not be killed during day or night, in the
ground or the air, inside or outside, by man, beast of demigod,
by any weapon living or non living. In asking for such a boon,
Hiranyakasyapu was attempting to become immortal. His attitude is
reflected in that of the materialists today who try to become
immortal by wealth, technology and power - little realizing that
every thing in this material world is transient, subject to
destruction at the infallible hands of time.

Kayadhu
on being re-united with Hiranyakasyapu, gave birth to Prahalad.
Hiranyakasyapu, empowered with the boons from Brahma soon bought
the three worlds under his power. He ruled his kingdom ruthlessly
and fiercely, causing enormous miseries to the demigods, humans
and the inhabitants of the lower planetary systems. He deprived
the demigods of all their powers and assumed all their positions.
He accepted all sacrifices for himself without glorifying the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Who is the ultimate receiver of
all sacrifices. Miserable under the tyranny of Hiranyakasyapu,
the demigods ultimately surrendered to Krishna, praying to Him
for protection and deliverance. Pleased by their prayers, Krishna
Who always protects His devotees promised to bring an end to Hiranyakasyapu.

Prahalad,
although born in a demoniac family was a pure devotee. He
exemplifies the power of association with pure devotees. The
mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord can reverse all inauspicious
circumstances and plant the seed of love for Godhead. Prahalad
carefully nurtured this seed, planted in his heart by the
nectarean instructions of Narada Muni, even before he was born.
Understanding the true position of Vishnu, Prahalad spend his
time meditating on the name, form and pastimes of Vishnu. Despite
the efforts of his teachers, employed by Hiranyakasyapu, Prahalad
refused to accept his father as the supreme being. Being a
devotee, he was always kind, gentle and respectful, but firm in
his faith. Finally after several ploys, Hiranyakasyapu
exasperated with the obstinance of Prahalad ordered him killed.

The
cruel guards of Hiranyakasyapu tried very hard to kill Prahalad,
but failed. When one is protected by Sri Krishna, it is
impossible to harm him. Hiranyakasyapu now grew fearful of his
son, and urged his teachers to try harder. The teachers tried
with renewed energy to explain the supremacy of Hiranyakasyapu.
However when Prahalad was taken back to Hiranyakasyapu, he
remained firm in his belief and even counseled his father to give
up his envy for Vishnu and become his devotee. Enraged by this
Hiranyakasyapu finally decided to kill Prahalad himself and
mockingly asked him if his God was there to save him now. When
Prahalad explained that Vishnu is omnipresent, Hiranyakasyapu
kicked down a column asking him if his Vishnu was present in that
pillar.

Lord
Narsimhadev emerged from the pillar in a wondrous from that was
half man and half lion. He was resplendent in His arms, garments,
helmet and weapons. Hiranyakasyapu, confident of the prowress of
his boons, fearlessly attacked Lord Narsimhadev and a terrific
fight ensued. It is said that Lord Narsimhadev played with
Hiranyakasyapu, much like Garuda, the carrier of Lord Vishnu ,
plays with a snake before killing it. Finally, when it was dusk,
neither day nor night, Lord Narsimhadev, Who in that form was
neither man nor animal, took Hiranyakasyapu on his lap, which was
neither in the ground or the air, took him under the palace gate,
which was neither inside nor outside and killed him with his
nails, which was not a weapon, living or dead. In this way Lord
Narsimhadev honored all the benedictions of Brahma and protected
His devotees from irreligious.

The
killing of Hiranyakasyapu was greeted with much relief and
celebration in all the three worlds. All the demigods, headed by
Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva assembled to glorify Lord Narsimhadev.
So fearful was the form and anger of Lord Narsimhadev, that no
one dared approach Him, and it was finally Prahalad Maharaj,
fearless under the protection of his own Lord, who pacified Lord
Narsimhadev by offering sweet prayers to Him. Finally when the
Lord was pacified, He offered many bendictions to Prahalad
Maharaj and was then worshipped by all the demigods assembled
there.

Devotees
to this day pray to Lord Narsimhadev for protection from material
harm. Even though devotees of Krishna are not much concerned
about material advancement, the benediction of Lord Narsimhadev
is special, since it protects them for material harm so that they
can make spiritual advancements, in the mood of Prahalad
Maharaja. Thursday, April 29th was the appearance day of Lord
Narsimhadev. On this auspicious occasions let us all pray for His
mercy to protect disease, injury, accidents and untimely death,
so that we may continue to serve the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.